This is NHPR’s The Big Question. In this series, we ask you a question about life in New Hampshire, you submit an answer, and your voice may be featured on air or online.
Sometimes, an act of kindness, moment of compassion or piece of advice can turn a day – or a life – around. There are people who come into our lives and their impact lasts years.
So, for March, we asked: Who has left a positive impression on your life?
Here’s what some of you shared.
Jeff Baker - Wilton, NH: My positive impression is a gentleman named Bruce who offered me my first real job back in 1978. He brought me on as a driver for his ad agency and I have no idea what he saw in me. I was a mess, I'm sure, and he was just tremendously supportive and consistent and generous during the time I worked there. He challenged me quite a bit and gave me the technical and managerial support to help me succeed. [He] taught me most everything I've ever learned about the graphic arts industry and how to be a designer and how to be a creative director.
When I went out to set up my own business, he was one of the examples that I used to set the foundation for what I wanted my organization to be. I have both the pleasure and the responsibility of guiding and supporting now, our third generation of craftspeople and designers. It's really a wonderful thing to be able to give back to a new group of people what Bruce gave to me.
Lynn Chong - Sanbornton, NH: Billy Barnum is the one who made a very positive impression on me. He was 94 years old when he died. He'd spent his life really bucking trends, not buckling in to anything.
When I first met him, he very happily told me, “I never graduated from anywhere.” He said, “I ran away from Milton Academy because I wanted to go to New York City and be a bicycle courier. I went into the [U.S.] Merchant Marine and they kicked me out because I wouldn't march left, right, left, right, left, right.” That kind of tells a lot about him.
He wrote poetry. He'd been a clown in Cambridge Square selling flowers. He just led a totally different life. I love hearing [about] his derring-do and his fun and just enjoying life. He basically taught me to look around better and see what wasn't the ordinary or the normal. I feel like he opened my eyes to noticing more.
Tim Weeks - Keene, NH: Somebody who has had an impression on me and changed my life is my therapist. She is a remarkable person. My very first time meeting with her, which for the first time, made me feel like I was being heard.
Nobody wanted to, at that time because of the state that I was in, work with me as a therapist. Now, she didn't really know anything about me, but took it upon herself to meet with me and out of that one session, decided to take me on as one of her clients.
Until that point, I had had no contact with my parents and my siblings for 15 years. Through her coming into my life, I reconnected with them. And now, through the reconnection with my family and with her help, I feel like my life is as best as it could be, and it's exactly where I want to be today.
Clark Dumont - Sanbornton, NH: The person that left a positive impression on me is Ed Bliss Jr. He was a founder and professor of the broadcast journalism department at American University. I was so fortunate to be in his last class. I transferred to AU because I heard about Ed Bliss. I was like, if I'm going to be serious about this career and profession, I need to go where the best is.
I practiced broadcast journalism in New Hampshire, starting at radio stations in Keene and in Manchester. So what Ed taught me, first of all, was how to write for broadcast. He also taught me an impression upon my life, which is in the midst of chaos, be calm. Be mindful and be aware. Have your antenna up, be tuned in to others literally and figuratively, and help to explain what is happening and why it's happening. In every sense, Ed emulated integrity. He inspired excellence, thoroughness and being a good human.
Editor's note: Clark Dumont's town is Sanbornton, NH. A previous version of the story listed the wrong town.
